Portable tool boxes are used by a variety of tradesmen such as carpenters, plumbers, and electricians. A tool box must hold a variety of tools and it is desirable to provide means for positioning the tools within the box such that a specific tool can be quickly identified amongst a variety of other tools and easily removed therefrom. It is also desirable to provide a tool box with replaceable means for holding a variety of different size tools, and since tools are generally very heavy, the tool box must be well-constructed. It would also be convenient to provide a tool box which could simultaneously be used as a seat and foot stool.
It is especially desirable to provide a tool box with a cover means which maintains a drawer provided therein shut while simultaneously rendering the drawer readily accessible by hand.
Tool boxes are known which include a shelf or shelves having apertures of various sizes to support elongated tools in an upright manner. See Hughes U.S. Pat. No. 1,629,213, Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,835, Sautter U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,821, and Tedrow U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,455. However, none of these shelves are readily removable. It is also known to position elongated articles, such as pipettes, in an upright position between horizontally-disposed slats (Smernoff U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,042).
A known carrying box for the display of articles consists of a base, a vertical wall with display panels, and a cover mounted over the base (Chandles U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,940). The vertical wall is attached along one edge to the base and a handle extends from its opposing edge and is disposed in an aperture in the cover. The bottom edge of the cover has an endless notch-shaped groove which rests on the edge of the base.
It is an object of this invention to provide a portable tool box having a housing containing means for holding tools in an upright position and a drawer for holding additional tools.
Another object is to provide removable slats having apertures of a predetermined geometry for holding tools in an upright position, separate, and readily distinguishable from each other.
A further object is to provide a tool box having a drawer slidably disposed within a wall of the housing and a cover which maintains the drawer shut and simultaneously readily accessible for opening while the cover is still in place over the housing.